For Christmas 2021 our son had given us a trip on a steam ship but not any old steam ship, oh no! a trip up the River Weaver on “The Daneil Adamson”.
So we took our caravan away last week and in that week we took our trip on “The Danny” as it affectionately known. The start point and where we were to board the ship was at the bottom of “The Anderton Boat Lift” on The River Weaver, we were also looking forward to seeing as it is a piece of wonderful engineering and wow its big! We arrived at the car park after we found our way around the diversion out on the road and were pointed in the direction of The Danny, to our surprise we could see road steam! Yes parked in the area below the Anderton Boat Lift and to the side of the jetty that The Danny was moored were a few engines getting up steam. We took a look round the engines and to my (Wendy) delight one of my favourites, the Tarmac S6 Sentinel was there. But before to long it was time to board the ship, we walked across the short gangplank, thankfully only a short one, and was greeted by some of the lovely crew. We made our way to look at the engine room and the boiler room, sadly no public access is allowed in either of these but from up above you can see quite a bit of both, although we would of loved to of seen in both.
Soon the ship was ready to go and the trip started, a bit of back and forth from the engine to get off the mooring but before to long we were off and starting our 4 hour trip up the River Weaver. It was just fantastic, there is plenty of room for the 70 or so passengers and the engine crew, deck crew and of course the ladies in the tea counter.
We started our trip looking down into the engine room and for the next hour or so this is where we stood, well in-between here and the door that looks down into the boiler room and where you can see them throwing the coal into one of the three fires. It was great just to watch and take it all onboard. Before long we decided to have our lunch, a picnic that we had brought onboard, the ship doesn’t have any catering onboard, they do offer drinks, tea, coffee, soft drinks, wine and beer. We enjoyed standing at the edge watching the world go by whilst eating our lunch. Before long we were heading into a lock, this was great, lots of people were there watching, some chatted to us as we descended in the lock while others chatted to the lock keeper or just enjoyed taking pictures and watching on. Before to long we were out the lock and back on the river again steaming along, with the lovely weather we had, dry, sunny and quite warm and the lovely countryside, with the odd field of cows, sheep or horses and the bird life floating by, moorhens, geese, ducks, and Red Kites overhead it was just idyllic, even some of the ducks had the young, oh so lovely!!!
We then had another walk road the ship, up on the top deck there were chairs and tables set out for us to sit on and then in the upper and lower lounge’s, (below deck) wow the lower lounge is amazing, looked like a little Titanic down there, but the weather was so lovely we decided to stand on the forward deck for awhile and take in that beautiful view and just the steaming along. We chatted for much of our time to the crew from the engine and boiler room, they really did make the trip, all the crew were fabulous. We went under a couple of swing bridges and another lock, again the atmosphere was just wonderful, so friendly and everyone just enjoying their time on there, but before to long it would come to the end of the trip, the 4 hours just flew past.
What a wonderful trip, thanks to our son, Jack for the best present it was great, and the staff and crew of “The Danny” they were amazing, so friendly and everyone of them had time to chat weather it be about the steam side of things, the ships history (which is amazing) or the ladies doing the refreshments, it was brilliant.
Please see their website for all the information about this beautiful ship and if you ever get a chance then take a trip on her then it’s a must….
